SoccerMLS Cup offers familiar faces for TFC fans

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Former TFC defender Marvell Wynne will start for Colorado in Sunday's MLS Cup final. (Getty Images)

When the MLS Cup final kicks off on Sunday evening, Toronto FC fans will see a few familiar faces on the field.

Marvell Wynne, Conor Casey and Jeff Cunningham all used to ply their trade on the turf of BMO Field as members of Toronto FC. On Sunday, they will be playing for the biggest prize in Major League Soccer as members of the Colorado Rapids and FC Dallas, respectively.

Looking back over the long list of players who have come and gone from TFC, it is surprising to see how many of them have had success elsewhere. 

Ex-TFC stars flourish elsewhere

Most notable are Colorado's towering striker, Casey, FC Dallas's Cunningham and Edson Buddle of the L.A. Galaxy. All three have regularly featured in the top of the MLS scoring charts since leaving Toronto, something that didn't happen in their time north of the U.S. border.

While Casey and Buddle only played a dozen games combined for TFC - and their success since leaving cannot be considered a poor reflection on the club - Cunningham is different story.

Billed as one of the most lethal finishers in MLS when he arrived, Cunningham looked disinterested and disenchanted during his time in Toronto, finishing up with just six goals in 32 appearances for the club. Which makes his success since leaving Toronto such a mystery.

Seventeen goals in 2009 and 11 more this season prove that Cunningham can find the back of the net, something that didn't happen often enough to prolong his stay in Toronto.

But how much of his failure to score in Toronto is down to the player, and how much is down to the coach?

While there is no doubt that John Carver, TFC's coach during Cunningham's time in Toronto, lost all faith in his striker's ability, I believe it is ultimately up to the player to prove his worth out on the pitch.

Watching Cunningham train was at times a painful experience, such was his level of apathy towards the job at hand. Some say he needed an arm around his shoulders from Carver, to boost his ego and get him firing bullets instead of blanks. 

I disagree.

A professional athlete shouldn't need to be mollycoddled. He should go out and do his job regardless of whether he likes his coach or his team. Spitting his dummy out and sulking about his situation shouldn't even be an option.

Yet Cunningham seems to have found a club he likes in Dallas, and head coach Schellas Hyndman will be hoping that Cunningham can carry his team to MLS glory by finding the scoring touch that eluded him during his time in a TFC jersey.
 
Sporting Kansas City???
 
I would love to know who came up with the name Sporting Kansas City.
 
The Kansas City Wizards (not exactly a great name to begin with) has re-branded itself as Sporting Kansas City.
 
I have yet to speak to a single knowledgeable football person - player, coach, journalist, blogger or supporter - who likes the name. It's awful.
 
Was it some marketing executive's idea that the team needed to sound more authentic? Did it need to develop a cultural link to the Portuguese community in Kansas City? Or was it a genuine attempt to start a sporting club, with teams competing in other sports falling under the same umbrella?
 
Any way you look at it, it is a bad move. MLS is continuing to gain a foothold in the North American sports market, and as a league it has done many things well. Choosing names just isn't one of them.
 
Do you want to know which teams I'd like to see in the MLS Cup Final next year? Sporting Kansas City versus Real Salt Lake - two of the worst names in all of professional sports.

Follow Jason de Vos on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/jasondevos

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